Joss Whedon Announces the Commencement of Shooting on THE AVENGERS

Well folks, today’s the day. Director Joss Whedon has announced that today is the first day of filming for the be-all end-all comic book movie: The Avengers. It’s been a long road for Marvel, beginning in earnest with 2008’s Iron Man. Now, Thor, Captain America, Thor, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Hulk, and Iron Man himself will assemble under Joss Whedon’s guiding hand. The director announced the beginning of production with a very Whedonesque message.

Hit the jump to read what Whedon had to say, as well as a recap of what we know about The Avengers thus far.

Here’s Whedon’s statement, posted on Whedonesque last night:

Film Greatness. On the Eve of Our Endeavor, I celebrate an american classic — or possibly all of them.

Hi Pumpkins, joss here.

Tomorrow we start shooting (I THINK I’m legally permitted to say that). Day one. That’s right. We’ll be shooting the pivotal death/betrayal/product placement/setting up the sequel/coming out scene, at the following address:

[Marvel Lawyers rush in, take Joss's keyboard, blowtorch a picture of his family like in "Stormy Monday", drink his milkshake, leave the seat up, fluff his pillows, violently unfluff his pillows, leave]

Went too far. My bad. Anyhoo, it should be a fun day, followed by the eighty thousand other fun days it will take to finish this. I’ll be checking in from time to time, if there’s news or I crave attention (i.e. am awake) . None of it will be Avengers news — I have some very denty pillows to remind of that — but I may have tidbits. (They’re not about Firefly. I should say that up front, if only to protect Sis Mo from the HATORZ.)

Some of you may be saying, Joss! Why this link, here, now, why, huh, howcum? My friend Allyx turned me on to these guys, and I’ll tell you, they’ve gotten me through this intensely pressurized, preply time. I strongly recommend checking out their other vids — I’ve watched them many many times, and I have a very special place for “Teamwork” in my heart. These guys are the guys. And IS there a better movie title than “Eagles Are Turning People Into Horses”? I thought not.

So wish me luck. DO IT! LUCK! NOW! I’m off to finish some Buffy pages, and then figure out what the movie is about already. I’m pretty sure it’s about the Justice League [Marvel Lawyers re-enter, unspeakability occurs] or possibly something else. I’ll get it. I’ve been looking forward to this. For about 46 years.

Catchphrase!

-j.

Bringing together basically anyone who’s ever been in a Marvel movie, The Avengers stars Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, Scarlett Johansson, Chris Evans, Chris Hemsworth, Samuel L. Jackson, Jeremy Renner, and Colbie Smulders.. Scripted by Zak Penn (X2) and Whedon himself, not much is known about the plot of the film at this time. We do know that Hulk will be featured using motion capture, Iron Man’s armor will be new, and much of the filming will take place in New Mexico. Additionally, Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige recently stated his desire to create spinoff films of supporting characters Hawkeye, Black Widow and Nick Fury following The Avengers.

While we know next-to-nothing about the plot, there have been a few rumblings about the villain(s) of the film. Back in December, an Albuquerque newspaper printed that the film will revolve around the team fighting “two alien races: the Skrulls and the Kree.” This notion isn’t exactly confirmed, but talk of the Skrulls/Kree has been around for about a year now.

The Skrulls are an extraterrestrial humanoid race of shapeshifters and will presumably be very scary. The Kree, on the other hand, are an advanced militaristic alien race. Whether these two races turn out to be the villains or not, I think we can all safely say that the film is in great hands with Whedon at the helm. The Avengers will be released in 3D on May 4^th, 2012.